Now it’s rookie Logan Thomas’ turn to run the Arizona Cardinals’ offense.

When he takes the field Sunday in San Francisco, the fourth-round draft pick from Virginia Tech will be Arizona’s fourth starting quarterback this season.

Not exactly the recipe for success.

But after the offense sputtered with Ryan Lindley at the controls in last week’s debacle against Seattle, coach Bruce Arians decided to give Thomas a chance, for a little while at least.

“Definitely some excitement,” Thomas said. “First chance to play out one of my dreams and it’s a huge honor.”

Potentially this is not a meaningless game. If St. Louis upsets the Rams in Seattle, the Cardinals would win the NFC West with a victory over the 49ers.

Arians says he’ll be watching that Rams-Seahawks score and make personnel decisions accordingly.

“We’ll just see how the games go,” Arians said after Wednesday’s practice. “We want to win the game, though. I want to look at some guys, see how they’re feeling and be smart about it.”

So there could be a quarterback change in the second half?

“Yeah,” Arians said. “I mean everything is based on winning the game and then being smart.”

Arians said Drew Stanton’s sprained right knee is “getting better and better,” but if he suited up Sunday it would be as a backup. Otherwise, Lindley is the only other option.

Thomas has appeared in a game once this season, when Stanton went down with a concussion at Denver on Oct. 5 and Carson Palmer already was out with a shoulder injury. He threw eight passes. One was an 81-yard touchdown to Andre Ellington. The other seven fell incomplete. He was sacked twice.

The rest of the season he’s been running the scout team, pretending to be whoever the quarterback of the next opponent is. He played the role of the 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick back in Week 3.

“Yeah, not look like him, just try and play like him,” Thomas said. “I didn’t have any tattoos on or anything like that. I didn’t have to paint them on.”

The Cardinals had no intention of playing Thomas at all in his rookie season. He was a big, strong-armed project, with a need to work on his footwork, accuracy and passing touch.

But circumstances required otherwise.

When Palmer went down with a season-ending knee injury, the job went to Stanton. Then two games ago, Stanton sprained his knee. Arians decided to go with Lindley signed off the San Diego practice squad when Palmer was hurt last week against the tough Seattle defense rather than throw Thomas into the fray.

The results weren’t pretty. The Seahawks rolled on the road 35-6. That left Arizona and Seattle both 11-4, with the Seahawks holding the tiebreaker by virtue of two wins over the Cardinals.

Barring any upsets, Arizona will be the No. 5 seed in the NFC and travel to either Carolina or Atlanta.

The ever-blunt Arians said Thomas had a “shaky start” to practice Wednesday, “but finished up strong.”

He wants to see the quarterback “control the offense.”

“Knowing why he’s throwing the ball, where it’s going and doing it accurately,” Arians said, “but the big thing is getting to the right guy through his progression. That was part of the beginning of this practice, then he got better and better.”

Thomas talked about the difficulties of Arians’ offense, “the hots and sights and then with the reads.”

“But the guys around me have done a great job of making me comfortable,” Thomas said. “They just say, `Hey, go out there and be confident, put it out there and we’ll make plays for you.’ We have a great corps of receivers, a great offensive line, and the tailbacks are playing well right now.

“Those guys have picked me up and carried me when I’m down. Hopefully, I’ll do the same for them.”

Things can’t get a whole lot worse for the offense: Arizona failed to score a touchdown in its last two games.

Griffin dealing with sprained shoulder

Robert Griffin III has a sprained throwing shoulder that limited him in practice Wednesday as the Washington Redskins prepared for their season finale against the Dallas Cowboys.

Griffin appeared to be throwing normally during the portion of the workout open to reporters, but coach Jay Gruden said the shoulder has some “lingering soreness.”

“It needs to get better,” Gruden said. “I don’t think it’s a serious deal, but if it affects his throwing, then it could be an issue.”

Gruden said Griffin was hurt on a sack by Fletcher Cox in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 27-24 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Griffin remained in the game.

The Redskins have only one other quarterback, Kirk Cousins, on the 53-man roster, but Gruden said he doesn’t think the injury is serious enough to bring in someone else as a contingency measure.

“I don’t anticipate that happening,” Gruden said.

Colt McCoy, who has started five games this season, is on injured reserve with a neck injury.

Griffin will get a chance to rest the shoulder Thursday because the Redskins are not practicing on Christmas Day.

Griffin has had an injury-riddled three seasons in the NFL. He’s had two major leg injuries, including a dislocated ankle that sidelined him for six games this season.

Left tackle Trent Williams did not practice Wednesday, but he said he expected to play against Dallas. Williams has a sprained right shoulder and also played through a sprained right knee and sprained right ankle this season. He was nevertheless selected to his third Pro Bowl on Tuesday.

“I didn’t put my best product on the field a lot of times this year,” Williams said, “just trying to play through injuries to be there for my teammates.”

Chargers’ Mathews out of practice

San Diego Chargers running back Ryan Mathews was among those not practicing Wednesday and he could miss his third straight game Sunday.

If the Chargers (9-6) win at Kansas City this weekend, they’ll advance to the playoffs for the second straight season. But it’s likely San Diego will face the Chiefs (8-7) without Mathews. He hasn’t played or practiced since injuring his ankle against the Patriots on Dec. 7.

Wide receiver Keenan Allen (collarbone) and punter Mike Scifres (shoulder) also didn’t practice and neither is expected to play against the Chiefs.

Center Chris Watt, who left Saturday’s win over the 49ers with an ankle injury, also didn’t work.

Quarterback Philip Rivers, who’s been bothered by back and chest ailments, practiced for the second consecutive day.

Beckham, other Giants fined

Game-breaking wide receiver Odell Beckham and five other New York Giants were fined a total of $72,400 for their actions in Sunday’s melee-marred game in St. Louis.

While the NFL does not announce fines for this previous weekend’s games until Friday, placekicker Josh Brown and defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins discussed the levies Wednesday after being informed they were being docked.

Jenkins said he got the biggest fine, $16,000, for driving Rams quarterback Shaun Hill into the ground after the quarterback threw an incomplete pass in the fourth quarter.

Wide receiver Preston Parker and defensive end Damontre Moore were fined $15,000 apiece for taking part in a second-quarter brawl that started when Beckham was thrown to the ground well out of bounds by linebacker Alec Ogletree. Parker and Moore were ejected after the play, along with Rams DE William Hayes.

Beckham was fined $10,000 on the play for kicking at Ogletree after being thrown down.

Brown was docked $8,200 for making a kicking motion at a Rams player while on top of a pile following a kickoff return. Brown said he was pushed on the pile after the play was over and kicked out because someone was holding his ankle above his head.

He plans to appeal the fine. He was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play.

Long snapper Zak DeOssie was fined $8,200 for a late hit out of bounds on a punt return shortly after the melee. He was flagged for unnecessary roughness.

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